And Then There Were Two: Lodsys Adds Android Devs To Royalty Shakedown

Everyone’s favorite mobile applications patent troll is making sure to cast an equal-opportunity pall across software developers. After forcing Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) to claim blanket protection for its iOS developers against patent-infringement claims, Lodsys has started to contact Android developers with similar warnings.

MacRumors picked up on a *Google* Groups discussion in which an Android developer reported receiving a letter regarding his implementation of in-app purchasing technology, the same feature that Lodsys warned iOS developers infringed on one of its patents. Lodsys has yet to actually sue any iOS developers, but it is claiming the rights to 0.575 percent of all revenue gained from sales of iOS applications in the U.S., which has many Apple developers worried about what to do next.

Apple responded with a letter to Lodsys asserting that iOS developers are protected because Apple owns a license to the Lodsys technology in question, but until the matter is aired in court there remains a fair amount of uncertainty over the prospect of having to pay royalties. Lodsys’ decision to expand beyond iOS isn’t all that surprising, but doesn’t seem to have prompted a response from Google (NSDQ: GOOG) as of yet.